Presently, vehicle-based computing systems exist that use an in-car wireless connection to a portable cellular phone or other nomadic device to communicate with an outside network. In some of these systems, the nomadic device is attached to the car itself. In these cases, the system may be instructed to communicate with that device and only that device, presenting no conflicts in communication.
In other systems, the connection may be made with one of a plurality of available devices. For example, in the FORD SYNC system, the vehicle-based computing system uses a Bluetooth connection to pair with a user's phone. Since there may be more than one driver of a vehicle, or there may be more than one phone with which pairing is desired, the user can configure a plurality of phones for use with the SYNC system.
As long as only one phone is within range of the system transceiver, this does not present a problem, as the system only has one choice of phones with which to connect. When a plurality of phones are available, however, the system may require instruction to determine which phone is to be used.
One possible solution is to prioritize phones. There can be a designated primary phone and even second, tertiary, etc. phones. If more than one paired phone (paired phones are phones that have been synchronized with the BlueTooth connection) is present, the system may choose a phone with which to connect by using preset prioritizations. But, for example, if a vehicle is in a garage, when it is started, it may be able to communicate with a high priority phone left inside a house. Then, when the vehicle leaves the range of communication with the connected stationary phone, the connection is lost, and a driver may have to manually instruct the vehicle to begin searching for a different phone.